In reply to Cyril Zotmund (msg # 894):

Our recipies are Australian, so they use metric! So do the newer English ones...

In reply to Fate (msg # 895):

Yes I know... such a pain to convert too ;-)

Wish me luck, about to read every single thread that mentions Alizarin as I continue building content for it to be a central POI in the near future :)

In reply to Johan Jager (msg # 897):

Lol, good luck. Fortunately that is only a couple of threads!

5-7? threads have mentioned Alizarin, I'm through half of them. I just finished reading Gaius' employment with Kalishnakov on his visit there on 22 May 2175 and later returns at 01 July 2176. Now I'm down to The First trip of Jean Bart and Work the Shadows, which has 30+ and 40+ mentions of Alizarin.

Work the Shadows down.. one to go.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:52, Sat 29 Feb 2020.

Alright.. I've read through every mention of Alizarin and compiled a rough timeline of players coming and going.  The amount of times the narrator has tried to coax you all into making something of Alizarin lol... I'm betting he's happy someone's actually going to live there and make it into a growing arc for the coming decades :)  (Speaking of which, we'll all have to talk sometime about opportunities to advance time as a whole for longterm arcs to unfold)

In the future we'll have to have a thread that logs arrivals and departures so we can streamline the timeline with residents and visitors and so visitors can potentially react to arrivals; even if it's just notes about seeing a starship fly over a colony to land at the Kalishnakov Starport/Base whatever. That thread can probably be used for communication with authorities that dictate landing/departure transmissions, which could maybe be done in private messages, and those snooping comms could gain access to transmissions and potentially logs about the ship's manifest, crew, etc. I'll get into thread structure needs for permanent locations later.  On with the Alizarin timeline:


0230 was named Alizarin by Vilani astonomers, and the system is mundane, with just one small body, possibly a planet, orbiting the star.

According to the survey report of the Jaques Carter, Alizarin is a smaller planet, just 4300 miles in diameter, 57% of which is covered by water. The only planet in the system, it is not hit by asteroids anywhere near as often as most planets. Still, very little is known about it.

Gishidda vessel, Jaques Carter, landed in the plains for Alizarin. Vessel later destroyed in system next explored by Vilani Destroyer.

Crew's first activity is attempted hunting and observe T-rexes hunting herbivores. Later they killed 3 horned herbivores with a security detail.
Samantha Fox (Went on to produce vaccines for Vilani), Carrick Teague, Mnwa Phwi (pilot),

large temperate island somewhat separated from the larger continents. It is flatter than most, and is about 2000 miles long (east/west) by 1300 miles wide. There are large forests around it's edges, with a mountain range going up it's western coastline and a large desert in it's interior, crossed by several rivers going from the mountain range to the coast. The wildlife here is different due to the isolation. There are large creatures wandering, and some smaller dog-like carnivores. The larger predators seem confined to swamps and waterholes.

large very defensible peninsula. The mountainous terrain is dry and desert-like at the isthmus, but has flat greener plains at the tip fed by two rivers that run off the mountains into a lake in the centre. There are some larger carnivores there, as well as a number of smaller herbivores. Or at least, that is how it appears.

The scientists are very excited by the similarities their limited research has found here with life on Terra. It seems to have similar bacteria, so the planet can be expected to be resistant to many Terran bacterias and diseases, though the life forms do not seem as well developed, and there are fewer mammals, almost none.

The geologists report is less exciting, with the planet lacking in iron and some heavier minerals and 'rare earth' metals.






01 Nov 2171 by the time Cyril Zotmund arrives in Alizarin searching for the lost ship, Jaques Carter and engage a Vilani Destroyer successfully there, or a neighboring system.

Hawthorne Doyle of the Jean Bart arrives on Alizarin 25 May 2172, departing 30 May 2172 after resupply. Returns on 12 August 2172, departing the next day. Next return upon 22 February 2173 for resupply.

Zyril Zotmund and crew arrive at Alizarin on 17 June 2172. The system seems lifeless, but the planet hails them, and they note a small island seems to have been tamed. On landing, they wonder whether the people have become wild on the planet, or whether they are in fact taming the planet. A rough bunch, the bar is still a couple of packing crates with an open keg controlled by the 'bartender', but the spirit here is undeniable.  Departed 30 Jun 2172, to return 02 Sep 2172 for resupply and departure.




The official leave you the name of the 'governor' of Alizarin, if it could be termed that LEUT Fogg.

Auxillary Task Force under Captain Freelunder, has been assigned to Alizarin

Gloria Flake arrive at Alizarin on the 9th Dec 2173 enroute to Ceti Command

the large Kalishnikov Base Fabrika is there, clearly in an attempt to build up the colony.

05 May 2175 Gloria Flake and Hawthorne Doyle arrive at Alizarin with the Jean Bart and resettle refugees in the modest archipeligo of the Kalishnakov HQ base island. Departed 03 June 2175

Date: 22 May 2175, Gaius Sattius arrives at Alizarin for refueling and employment contract with Kalishnakov. Returns 01 July 2176 for Fueling

Kalishnikov Enterprises have the biggest hospital in the system. massive base ship parked above the planet in orbit.

The base ship is massive, a large cylinder larger than even the largest Imperial freighters. It is a hub of activity, essentially large station with a set of engines out the back. Larger vessels under construction can be seen attached to it. Freighters, including a couple of spherical ones, can be seen parked near the rear end in such a way that it looks a little comical to the immature mind.

In reply to Johan Jager (msg # 900):

Close to accurate, though I do need to point out that after Ceti-Command became friendly, the base ship moved on to there, and is now at Argon. The Task Force under Captain Freelunder also moved on to there, though there are a couple of vessels still stationed there.

The Jaques Cartier was an exploratory vessel, not a Gashidda.

Otherwise pretty good!

Good new notes :) So right now Alizarin is just a hefty logistics and repair depot with a few ships coming and going and just the housing infrastructure for base staff at this point. Back to being a frontier blank slate for the companies coming to acquire their new leases after AK put rights on the market.

So I started doing some legit astrophysics math and figured out why Alizarin is listed as a Barren world. The stars are Type-M (M1 V & M8 V), dwarf stars about a 1/3rd the size of Sol, which is a G2 star; the 2nd star is tiny and barely kicking out heat, rated at M8 V. Alizarin is 1.54 Astronomical Units (AU) from its primary star; that's almost exactly how far Mars is from Sol (Earth is exactly 1AU from Sol, that's what AUs are based on).  Alizarin is 50% further away, and receiving several times less solar energy than Earth does from Sol. It would be a lifeless dim red planet, which explains why one of the metrics pegs the planet's temperatures are at near-freezing at best.

(GURPS Traveller "First In" book provides some star classification information)
Star Characteristics: Main Sequence [Class V)
Type:     M8     M1 (est) Sol (Est)
Temp:     2,600  3760     5950
Lumins:   .001   .05      1
Mass:     .0063  .45      1
Radius:   .0014  .00475   1
Lifespan: 630    105      9.3

(You could literally stare at Alizarin's star without flinching. It'd be like a dull LED in your face)

Now knowing these facts of stellar cartography, do we want to proceed with pretending Alizarin is a Garden World instead of Barren, and trying to force it into storyline by ignoring all the provided data, or should we return it to a Marslike colony, and assume it was named Alizarin for the dull red barren existence it promotes rather than lush overwhelming red flora?

There has to be a significant quantity of Gaia and Garden Worlds in Traveller that we can survey and colonize, and because I've put so much research in ahead of time before diving into storyline without foundations built, we lose very little but a couple days of my time theorycrafting for Alizarin, which could all be replicated for another planet.  I can start searching the star map for habitable planets in Terran space right now?  What's everyone's thoughts on this?  For previous storylines of brief visits to Alizarin, it can be updated to its accurate state by a solar/meteor event etc, and we can transpose the vibe and content of a prehistoric earth-like world onto a scientifically suitable location.


Typical characteristics of M dwarfs
Stellar Mass Radius Lumin. Teff
class   (M☉) (R☉) (L☉) (K)
M0V 60% 62% 7.2% 3,800
M1V 49% 49% 3.5% 3,600
M2V 44% 44% 2.3% 3,400
M3V 36% 39% 1.5% 3,250
M4V 20% 26% 0.55% 3,100
M5V 14% 20% 0.22% 2,800
M6V 10% 15% 0.09% 2,600
M7V 9% 12% 0.05% 2,500
M8V 8% 11% 0.03% 2,400
M9V 7.5% 8% 0.015% 2,300
This message was last edited by the player at 15:29, Sun 01 Mar 2020.

Gonna add a couple of notes. The system arrangement builder appears to be randomized. This effects the quoted numbers for AU of Alizarin from star(s), and the reported temperatures. What doesn't change is the officially registered stars for Alizarin, which remain weak M-type stars. It would take math beyond my known skillset to determine the distance required for Alizarin to sit and achieve a semi-tropical (Instead of Barren, and necessary for a world of cold-blooded reptilian populations) climate disposition. If we went REALLY rough with it, we'd factor the temperature of the star's output vs its luminosity to gauge the photon transmission strength of that temperature band. I fear it'd be some stupid small number though. Back in a bit..


This message was last edited by the player at 15:02, Sun 01 Mar 2020.

My math and research show that a planet would have to be so close to an M star to maintain 'normal' temperatures that it would be irradiated clean by the constant flares off an M star, and would be tidally locked to the star, so 'normal' temperatures would only be available on the twilight equator between dark and light sides. Colonies along such a meridian are doable, but they would be hostile living and require ADVANCED protection, they wouldn't be biological paradises of exposed peace and plenty.  M stars make up roughly 80% of known stars, so that's gonna narrow things down a lot in terms of finding a location suitable for the proposed storyline setting as is. My team isn't locked into the Terra Nova model setting but it is compelling and motivating, and it's precisely why the narrator has been trying to get people to settle a version of that planet; Alizarin just may not be the planet for it.

Well Nova Pacifica is another habitable System, as is Argon I believe.  Ceti-Comand and several systems near it are habitable at some level too.

As for Alizarin, how about a Rift Valley with internal heat from the interior to add warmth.  Still be dark though. the other course is to just override the system and say it has a bigger, warmer star. It is Blue Dwarf’s game.  Or it’s not an M8 it’s some weirder star form that got mislabeled... many, many different approaches.

Yeah there's several ways to fudge it all, but for a setting that's gone out of its way to give us extensive galactic information, we'd like to use it. We can make all sorts of life happen one direction or another on a planet that supports life. It's harder for us to fuel the imagination if we have to fake every inch of the setting.  There seems to be a consensus from my crew that we'd like to get as close to realistic as possible on a few things.

Nova Pacifica
Argon
Ceti-Command.

We'll take a look and start building a list of options.

With some more research I'm finding that K-type stars also have a potentially functional habitable zone for the type of colony we're proposing.  M-Star planets can still be colonized to some extent, but it requires massive amounts of protection and isolation in the infrastructure. Keep in mind that the term 'habitable' is very broad, and in astrobiology terms it refers to a planet's ability to have water in a liquid state, and yes, M-type star planets are very common and also have the conditions to support that, but is not hospitable to life as we know it.

For game purposes, characters can take medications to resist some extra radiation, within reason. Ideally we want G-type stars, but I've added K-type stars to the acceptable options as a planet can be closer than Earth to Sol but far enough still compared to an M-type that it's not tidally locked and not bombarded by x1000-10000 radiation that M-types kick off with their overactivity.

Inversely, F-type stars is what I'm researching right now, with their habitable zones being further out, 1.5-3x of Sol system, so beginning at where Mars is to us, for example.  F-type would be quite bright, I kinda like the notion of K-type because I love the aesthetic of being closer to a more red star that would add a glow to the sky.   It is estimated that the habitable zone of a relatively hot F0 star would extend from about 2.0 AU to 3.7 AU and between 1.1 and 2.2 AU for a relatively cool F8 star. However, relative to a G-type star the main problems for a hypothetical lifeform in this particular scenario would be the more intense light and the shorter stellar lifespan of the home star. So we can fudge the atmosphere and say it has a strong Ozone and/or magnetic sphere and we get constant endless aurora borealis, which is fine by me :)



So for F-types, think water worlds, perhaps?

I've found a couple systems already qualifying. I'll continue filtering and make a shortlist.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:35, Mon 02 Mar 2020.

To be honest, I have not delved into it that deeply. We have a universe with jump drives, so until we know if that is even possible I am not making scientific claims of accuracy. Close enough is, in this case, good enough!

The idea of a strong ozone layer with 2 suns sounds entirely plausible. Perhaps we should move onto who your character is and how they fit in...

Just having a bit of a familial meltdown :)

will be right back with your usual broadcasting

In reply to Jack 'Patch' Flint (msg # 910):

All good. Busy with family here until Sunday too.

What, if any, passenger capability do we have?

In reply to Sdian McGuire (msg # 912):

Life support for 8, so fine there!

And sleeping arrangements?

In reply to Sdian McGuire (msg # 914):

CO cabin has a double bed, the rest are shared single bed cabins. 7 beds in total, counting the double bed as one.

OK, so I can put these Yahoos in a room of their own.

In reply to Sdian McGuire (msg # 916):

That will work...

In reply to Fate (msg # 917):

Jack, we are going to need a financial plan, including tracking all previous funds, if you are planning on investing. Still waiting on that financial breakdown of how much the men got, etc.

Hope you're all still doing okay!